The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-06-02
PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH.
SECRETARY LAMAR FEARS ALL THE
REPORTS ARE NOT TRUE.

Only In tho Citics--Tho Secretary Is In
| clIned to Think That Much of It. is Specu-
Iative.
| [In;crvieY in the Hartford, Conn, Times }
/ found Secretary Lamar at his place
in the department. the other day, his
| table we'll covered with papers, transact
ing the routine business as methodically
as though he had been an executive
officer all his life, but it seemed to DO q
relief to him to turn from them for n
littlo while, walk with me into his pri-
vato room and talk on other subjects.
Our conversation was about journalism,
its wonderful growth, it's change Of
character and its future, and upon other
topics, but [ shall not now repeat what
he had to say, except on one subject
the industrial condition of tho South
and that do with his consent.
"Tho apparent prosperity of the
South" said Secretary Lamar, "is to be
found in the Cities and not all of them
share it. Atlanta, Chattanooga, NASH
vile, Knoxville, Birmingham and other
cities that arc tho centres of mineral de-
velopment already made or anticipated
are growing rapidly in population and
apparently in wealth. Towns, also, that
are situated upon the new railroads that
have been built during the past few
years are larger and more thriving than
they were, but their growth has been
largely at the expense Of less fortunate
towns that have either stood still or have
actually dctcriorated. This circum-
stance, l think, is likely to give an
erroneous impression to the stranger
passing through the South on the rail
ways. Uo secs the towns at the various
stations apparently thriving, the centres
of new commercial enterprises, and he
naturally concludes that tho South is
making very rapid progress; but he
doesn't know tnat The man who has
opened a now store ct one of these places
has probably removed there from some
town distant from the railroad where he
closed up his former business, or the
man who is building Il low house is pos
sibly Il farmer who has become discOur-
aged in the vain effort TO make II living
planting cotton, and has sold out aud
come to town hoping to do better, Or,
pCrlap;, to have better opportunities fo1
the education Of his children.
81 am inciincI to think, also, that tho
present prosperity Of the cities which
are the centres Of industry i'll tho miner
al region or whose growth has bccl
stimulated by their proximity to or in
tcrest i'll 1t, Is, to II great extent, specu
latlYC-D0SCu ID some measure, at least
upon anticipated developments rather
than upon those already made. Ol
! course, [ know that good deal of capi
tai has been invested there Il ID that
much of it has gone from the North and
that many Northern people are settling
there, and l don't wish to b3 understood
as doubling the future prosperity of the
region. L only say that the returns have
not yet been realized. J. ought to say that
L have very little personal knowledge OF
affairs in those sections Of the South Of
which L have been speaking. The
boom has come since | have been there
to remain long at IL time, and my opin-
ions are formed from what l have read
| i'll the newspapers and heard from per-
sons who have been there. / think you
will find, too, that such cities rs Charles
ton, Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans
are not showing evidences Of prosperity.
! Let us see" SAID he, taking down com
! pendulum of the last census, chow much
| these cities increased in population be
tween 1870 and 1880. Charleston gained
i'll population III that decade 1923, or
at the rate Of about | 1-5 per cent. Su-
vannah gained l,I74, or about 81 per
cent; Mobile actually lost 2, 902 in pop
ulatlon, and New Orleans gained 2i, ,G72,
or about l3 per cent. If you remember
that the average increase Of population
throughout the whole country during
the same ten years averaged 30 per cont. +,
you will see that there is nothing en-.
couraging in these figures"
elbow do you account for tho appar
cnt stagnation i'll what were formerly the
great commercial centres Of tho South?'
l. asked.
'By the depression of the planting in
tcrcSt, of which l. have already spoken, ~
was tho reply. "Thoy are dependent
upon the agriculture OF the country for
their trade"
"Iaven't tho crops been good?"
eyes, that of last year was the largest
over made with ono or two exceptions.
But the crop to-day is not proportionally
| as great rs it WaS before The war. 1T
must be remembered that tho popUla.
ton Of the South lnGTCasCd nearly fifty
per cent. between 1860 and 1880. A.
agriculture Is almost oar only industry,
and as cotton is our frInClpai product, ii
we only held our Own VIC ought, lii 1880,
to laTc marketed fifty per cclH. more
cotton jhan @e dil bulOro the war But
the ruth is that the large crop OF last
yea vas only twenty-five per cent.
greater than that Of 1860. In othcl
WORDS, our population increased during
that twenty years just about twice as fast
rs onr ability to feed and clotho it. You
wouidn't look for prosperity under such
circumstances, and you will not think it
| strange that the cities which are depend
ont upon agriculture for their trade
| should languish."
81 have not boen South in several
years." | said; "aro there outward signs
in the country of this depression of
which you spcak?"
eyes, especially when ono goes away
from the railroads Improve m2rt, arc
not kept W and there is a gene raj al OF
poverty, want OF thrift and tho allowing
OF things to go to decay"
"To what cause do you attribute it?''
81 don't know. Probably it is iue to
| q UoriptU nf no,,uoo L 1S1 .ou,